Gertrude Glyn as she appeared as Sonia during the run of The Merry Widow, Daly’s Theatre, London, 1907-1909

Gertrude Glyn (1886-1965), English musical comedy actress, as she appeared as understudy to Lily Elsie in the role of Sonia during the first London run of The Merry Widow, produced at Daly’s Theatre, Leicester Square, on 8 June 1907 and closed on 31 July 1909.
(photo: Bassano, London, probably 1908 or 1909; postcard no. 1792M in the Rotary Photographic Series, published by the Rotary Photographic Co Ltd, London, 1908 or 1909)

Gertrude Glyn began her career in 1901 at the age of 15 with Seymour Hicks when he cast her in one of the minor roles in the ‘musical dream,’ Bluebell in Fairyland (Vaudeville Theatre, London, 18 December 1901), of which he and his wife, Ellaline Terriss were the stars. Miss Glyn was subsequently under contract to George Edwardes, appearing in supporting roles at the Gaiety and Daly’s theatres in London and where she was also one of several understudies to both Gabrielle Ray and Lily Elsie. She also seen from time to time in other United Kingdom cities. Her appearances at Daly’s in The Merry Widow, The Dollar Princess (1909-10), A Waltz Dream (1911), and The Count of Luxembourg (1911-12) were followed during 1912 or 1913 by her taking the role of Lady Babby in Gipsy Love (also played during the run by Avice Kelham and Constance Drever), in succession to Gertie Millar.

On 10 April 1914, Gertrude Glyn and Elsie Spain sailed from London aboard the SS Otway bound for Sydney, Australia. Their first appearances there were at Her Majesty’s Theatre, Sydney, on 6 June that year in Gipsy Love in which they took the parts respectively of Lady Babby and Ilona, the latter first played in London by Sari Petrass.

Gipsy Love, Her Majesty’s Theatre, Sydney, 6 June 1914
‘A thoroughly artistic performance is that offered by Miss Gertrude Glyn, another newcomer, in the role of Lady Babby. Although her singing voice is not a strong point in her equipment of talent, this actress artistically makes one forget this fact in admiration for the skilful interpretation of her lines and lyrics, and also the gracefulness of her dancing and movements. Another point of excellence about Miss Glyn’s work is that she acts easily and naturally, always keeping well within the pictures and confines of the character she impersonates.’
(The Referee, Sydney, NSW, Wednesday, 17 June 1914, p. 15c)

Gertrude Glyn’s last appearances were as Lady Playne in succession to Madeline Seymour and Mary Ridley in Paul Rubens’s musical play, Betty, which began its long run at Daly’s Theatre, London, on 24 April 1915 and ended on 8 April 1916.

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Gertrude Glyn’s real name was Gertrude Mary Rider. She was the youngest daughter of James Gray (or Grey) Rider (1847/49-1900), a civil servant, and his wife, Elizabeth. She was baptised on 24 October 1886 at St. Mark’s, Hanwell, Middlesex. She married in 1918.
‘CAPTAIN BULTEEL and MISS GERTRUDE GLYN (RIDER).
‘The marriage arranged between Captain Walter Beresford Bulteel, Scottish Horse, youngest son of the late John Bulteel, of Pamflete, Devon, and Gertrude Mary Glyn (Rider), youngest daughter of the late James Grey Rider, and of Mrs. Rider, 6, Windsor Court, Bayswater, will take place at St. Paul’s Church, Knightsbridge, on Thursday, May 9, at 2.30.’
(The Times, London, 7 May 1918, p. 9c)
Bulteel, one of whose maternal great grandfathers was Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey (1764-1845), was born in 1873 and died in 1952; his wife (Gertrude Glyn) died on 16 October 1965.

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Gabrielle Ray to return to the stage, London, April 1914

Gabrielle Ray (1883-1973), English musical comedy dancer and actress, as Polly Polino in Peggy (Gaiety Theatre, London, 4 March 1911), during her final professional appearances prior to her marriage on 2 March 1912 to Eric Loder (1888-1966) at St Edward’s Roman Catholic Church, Windsor.
(photo: Bassano, London, 1 June 1911)

London, April 1914
‘Gabrielle Ray is coming back to the stage. Leastwise I am told so in the most emphatic manner by the press agent of one of the leading theatrical managers in London. Miss Ray was, of course, one of the most popular of Daly’s theater [London] stars and at one time enjoyed the distinction of being the most photographed beauty in stageland. Her picture post cards sold in hundreds of thousands and no one was surprised when she captured a scion of the Loder family, famous in sporting circles and on terms of intimacy with royalty. Unfortunate the union was not a happy one and it was not long before it was a case of ”as you were” by permission of the courts. Lately Miss Ray, who, after her marriage, was seen very little by her former companions in the theatrical profession, has been returning to her old haunts and has been a regular attendant at all the costume balls so much frequented by the more swagger actresses.
‘Gabrielle Ray was never a great actress and never had any voice, but she had a dainty beauty and charm that was more valuable to her than either voice or talent would have been. Her biggest successes were made in unambitious dances that called for little more than grace and the ability to pose. I am told that in her new engagement, which will be announced shorty, she will continue in the line of her old successes.’
(John Ava Carpenter, ‘The News from London,’ The Chicago Sunday Tribune, Chicago, Sunday, 12 April 1914, section VIII, p. 2e/f)

Marion Winchester, the ‘Sugar Queen,’ American dancer, possessor of a casket of fabulous jewellery and sometime Italian countess

Marion Winchester (active 1899-1908), American speciality dancer
(photo: Bassano, London, probably late 1905/early 1906; postcard published by Davidson Brothers, London, circa 1906)

Marion Winchester, whose real name was Isabel Marion Brodie, was born at Monterey, California on 21 March 1882, the daughter of Charles A. Brodie. She is first mentioned professionally in her native United States in 1899, having been trained at the Alviene Stage Dancing and Vaudeville School of Acting, Grand Opera House, New York. Her first appearance in London took place in the Spring of 1903, when at The Oxford music hall she was billed as the ‘World’s Champion Cake Walker,’ City. Between then and 1905 she was in Paris, where she was described as ‘une fabuleuse danseuse américaine’ (Le Figaro, 9 December 1903), and where it was rumoured in 1905 that she had married the American millionaire Daniel G. Reid. Although Reid was married three times (twice to actresses), no such contract between him and Miss Winchester was effected and the nature of their relationship, if any, remains open to speculation. Her last known appearances were in the Paris production of Vera Violetta in 1908.

In her application to the American Embassy in Paris in 1921 for an emergency passport (no. 6532), to replace one that had been lost on a recent train journey from Italy to Paris, Isabel Marion Brodie stated that she was professionally known as Iolanda de Monte, and was then residing at 8 Rue de Bois de Boulogne, Paris, for the purpose of studying music. She was subsequently married to the Italian pianist and composer, Count Aldo Solito de Solis (1905-1973), who during 1924 gave a number of recitals in London, the first being at the Æolian Hall, Wigmore Street, on Thursday, 28 February 1924 (The Times, London, 23 February 1924, p. 8, advertisement; The Time, Saturday, 1 March 1924, p. 8), and appeared at five Prom Concerts at the Queen’s Hall, London, including the last night (18 October 1924), when, accompanied by the New Queen’s Hall Orchestra conducted by Henry Wood, he played Liszt’s ‘Totentanz.’ Solito de Solis returned briefly to London early in 1927 to give five recitals. He and his wife continued together until their divorce about 1940; he was then married on 17 August 1942 to the Hollywood actress, Gale Page (1913-1983).

Countess Isabel Marion Brodie Solito de Solis, aka Marion Winchester and Iolanda de Monte, was still living in 1946.

* * * * *

‘Vaudeville and Minstrel …
‘MARION WINCHESTER, premier danseuse recently with the Devil’s Auction Co., is playing the Hopkins’ circuit. She introduces an original speciality, consisting of a cake walk toe dance, in conjunction with ballad singing and serio comic vocalisms. She will play the Keith circuit.’
(The New York Clipper, New York, Saturday, 9 September 1899, p. 558c; The Devil’s Auction, an extravaganza with ballet similar to The Black Crook, was originally produced in New York in 1867 and subsequently revived in rejuvenated form many times)

‘Marion Winchester is making quite a bit success at the Alhambra, Paris. She is a lady who had the happy knack of sowing off the grandest costumes to the best possible advantage. On the same bill are the Harmony Four, Seymour and Dupre, and Johnson and Dean.’
(The New York Clipper, New York, Saturday, 16 July 1904, p. 469a)

‘Du temps où les bals de l’Opéra existaient encore, le secrétaire du théâtre vit venir à lui un solliciteur qui lui demanda un entrée, parce que, disait-it, son médecin lui avait fait de la distraction un précepte d’hygiène. Aujourd’hui, ce setrait à l’Olympia que les docteurs enverraient les neurasthéniques se guérir: où trouveraient-ils un plaisir plus salutaire que celui d’assister à une représentation de Country Girl et d’applaudir Mariette Sully et Alice Bonheur? La délicieuse Marion Winchester, après quelques jours de repos, reprend ce soir son rôle de lady Carrington: c’est une bonne nouvelle pour le monde élégant qui viendra applaudir l’étoile de la danse américaine.’
(Le Figaro, Paris, Tuesday, 29 November 1904, p. 1e)

‘LONDON WEEK BY WEEK (By Emily Soldene.)
‘LONDON. December 16, 1904… .
‘We’ve got a ”Sugar Queen” – Miss Marion Winchester. Of course, she’s an American; equally, of course, she’s an actress – a toe dancer, recently with the Country Girl in Paris; also, of course, she’s at the Savoy. One day in Paris she met in the corridor of the Hotel Lebaudy, ”Emperor of the Sahara.” Marion was sucking a piece of candy. ”Give up sugar-stick,” said he, ” and buy sugar stock.” ”I just froze on,” said Marion. She took the tip, and £20,000 on the deal. She’s loaded up with trunks – sables, new dresses of Paquin diamonds – and is soon going on at the Gaiety.’
(The Evening News, Sydney, NSW, Australia, Saturday, 21 January 1905, p. 7e)

‘OUR LONDON LETTER.
‘Dec. 16 [1905] …
‘Tonight Marion Winchester, well known in the theatres of two continents as a dander, will be seen in the cast of The Spring Chicken, at the Gaiety Theatre.’ (The New York Clipper, New York, Saturday, 30 December 1905, p. 1146b)

‘MULTI-MILLIONAIRE REID MARRIED A STAGE DANCER
‘Beautiful Marion Winchester Becomes Mistress of $20,000,000 Fortune.
‘NEW YORK, March 1. [1905] – Marion Winchester, the beautiful American dancer, has become mistress of a $20,000,000 fortune by her marriage to Daniel G. Reid of Indiana, organizer of the tinplate trust and director of more than a dozen of the largest corporations in the country. The announcement of the marriage, which took place in Paris recently, reached New York to-day from London, where the couple are now living.
‘This is the second wife Reid has taken from behind the footlights.
‘Miss Winchester was a popular member of the New York Theater company, under the management of the Sire Bros.’
(The San Francisco Call, San Francisco, Thursday, 2 March 1905, p. 5f)

‘THE ”SUGAR QUEEN” AND PROTECTION.
‘Miss Marion Winchester, the ”Sugar Queen” who is appearing in the Spring Chicken at the Gaiety Theatre [London], although an American, is an ardent Free Trader, her experience of Protection, in her native land, being the reverse of pleasant. On March 30 last year [sic; it was actually 20 March1905], the young actress returned to New York [from Southampton] on the St. Louis, and in answer to the usual inquiry of the customs office, stated that she had nothing to declare. On an examination of her luggage however, the official remarked that she had far too many jewels to pass, and she was asked to accompany him to the chief office.
‘The jewels were carefully weighed and tested, and Miss Winchester was staggered with the demand for £12,000, the amount of the duty due. In vain the beautiful dancer protested, tears and anger proved equally unavailing, and finally she declared her intention of departing by the next steamer, rather than pay money or deposit her jewels. On this understanding, after being detained either hours, she was allowed to retain possession of her treasures; but during the two days she remained detectives were continually shadowing her. Before the steamer sailed the jewels were carefully checked, to see that none had been disposed of.
‘Miss Winchester has purchased a house at 35A. South-street, Park-lane [Mayfair (where the actress Eleanor Souray lived in about 1908], with the intention of making her home in London, and emphatically states that the next time she visits her native land her jewels will remain in her London bank.’ (The Northern Argus, Clare, South Australia, Friday, 4 May 1906, p. 3)

Palace Theatre, London, week beginning Monday, 4 May 1908
Marion Winchester ‘fresh from her Continental successes.’
(The Sunday Times, London, Sunday, 3 May 1908, p. 15f)

‘Paris, Nov. 10 [1908].
‘Vera Violetta, Redelsperger’s spectacular operetta, which had a big run in Vienna, was produced by Victor de Cottens and H.B. Marinelli at the Olympia on the 6th [or 7th November 1908]. Mr. Baron, of the Varietes Theatre, has been engaged for a part that suits him admirably, though this popular actor is getting old and is now rarely seen. Marion Winchester, from the Gaiety, London, plays with much charm and especially pleases by her graceful dancing. M. Fereal, a popular baritone, Girier, the rotund comic, Mlle. Maud d’Orby, the 16 ”Olympia Girls” (Tiller’s), Mathilde Gomez, Mlle. Relly and the Delevines contribute to the success of this piece.’
(Edward G. Kendrew, ‘Paris Notes,’ Variety, New York, Saturday, 21 November 1908, p. 11a)

‘Daniel Gray Reid, the multimillionaire financier, who has been served with summons in an action for divorce brought by his third wife, Margaret Carrier, refused to discuss the affair yesterday. At his apartment on the eleventh floor of 907 Fifth avenue Mr. Reid’s butler said Mr Reid had nothing to say about the divorce… . ‘She married Reid in the fall of 1906, when she was 23 and he 54. she was a chorus girl and played in ”A Chinese Honeymoon” and later ”The Runaways.” ‘Mr. Reid’s first wife was Clarisse Agnew, an actress, who was playing at the old Hoyt Theatre. Following her death Mr. Reid met Marion Winchester in 1905, a dancer, on one of his trips to Paris and after a short courtship married her.
‘Three months after her death, in 1906, he married Margaret Carrier.’ (The Sun, New York, New York, Sunday, 2 March 1919, p. 8d)

Lily Elsie as Humming Bird in See-See, Prince of Wales’s Theatre, London, 1906

Lily Elsie (1886-1962), English star of operetta and musical comedy, as she appeared as Humming Bird in the ‘Chinese’ comic opera, See-See, which was produced at the Prince of Wales’s Theatre, London, on 20 June 1906. Gabrielle Ray was also in the cast.
(photo: uncredited, probably Bassano, London, 1906)

Gladys Cooper, photographed in London, about 1908

Gladys Cooper (1888-1971), English actress.
(photo: Bassano, London, circa 1908; tinted postcard no. E.2022 published by the Aristophot Co Ltd, London, circa 1908)

Although the exact date of this photograph is uncertain, it is likely to have been taken during the run of the musical play, Havana, which ran at the Gaiety Theatre, London, from 25 April to 12 December 1908. Gladys Cooper appeared as one of the Touring Newspaper Beauties, together with Julia James, Frances Kapstowne, Daisy Williams, Connie Stuart, Kitty Lindley and Crissie Bell.

Pauline Chase as The Little Japanese Girl

Pauline Chase (1885-1962), American actress, as she appeared in the title role of the 1 Act play, The Little Japanese Girl, adapted from the Japanese by Loie Fuller and first produced at the Duke of York’s Theatre, London, on 26 August 1907.
(photo: Bassano, London, 1907).

Other members of the cast were Edward Sass as the Prince and Jane May as the Princess. The piece ran for 49 performances. Pauline Chase appeared again in The Little Japanese Girl at the London Coliseum in the summer of 1911.

* * * * *

‘PAULINE CHASE AS A STAR.
‘She Makes a Great Success in London in a Play by Loie Fuller.
‘Special Cable to THE NEW YORK TIMES.
LONDON. Aug. 26 [1907]. – Miss Pauline Chase made a brilliant success this evening in Loie Fuller’s one-act play, ”The Little Japanese Girl,” produced at the Duke of York’s Theatre under the management of Charles Frohman.
‘Among her most enthusiastic admirers were Oscar Lewisohn and his wife, (A HREF=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edna_May>Edna May,) who came to London from the country specially to witness the performance.’
(The New York Times, New York, 27 August 1907, p. 7)

‘Pauline Chase is now appearing in a one-act play by Loie Fuller, entitled ”The Little Japanese Girl.” Miss Chase has become so closely identified with the English stage that the British public has come to regard her as its own.’
(The Washington Times, Third Section, Woman’s Magazine, Washington DC, 8 September 1907, p. 8d)

* * * * *

London, week beginning Monday, 24 July 1911
‘At the Coliseum this week Miss Pauline Chase will appear with three others in Miss Loie Fuller’s one-act play A Little Japanese Girl, with music by Mr. John Crook.’
(The Times, London, Monday, 24 July 1911, p. 10d)

London, 2 August 1911 ‘Pauline Chase came an awful cropper at the Coliseum, where she is appearing in a Japanese play previously done in pantomime by Hanako. It is called ”A Little Japanese Girl,” and it deals with the vanity of a little laundress who put on a Princess’s kimono and rouged her face. She was mistaken for the princess and killed by an outraged princely lover. When the curtain descended on the act at the opening afternoon, there was none insistent ”hand” and Pauline took a bow where she needn’t have troubled. It seems as though ”Peter Pan” will have to be revived.’ (Variety, New York, Saturday, 12 August 1911, p. 15b)

Gladys Cooper photographed by Bassano, London, 1911

Gladys Cooper (1888-1971), English actress.
(photo: Bassano, London, 1911)

When this photograph was published in May 1911, Miss Cooper had lately left the cast of Our Miss Gibbs and, turning her back on pantomime and musical comedy, was about to begin her theatrical career in earnest by appearing as Ethel Trent in Frank Howell Evans’s farce, Half-a-Crown, produced at the Royalty Theatre, London, on 31 May 1911. The cast was headed by Dennis Eadie.

Henry A. Lytton and the Cosy Corner Girls from The Earl and the Girl, London, 1904/05

Henry A. Lytton (1865-1936), English actor and singer, with the ‘Cozy Corner Girls’ (left to right, Gertrude Thornton, Clare Rickards and Hilda Hammerton) in the musical comedy, The Earl and the Girl which was first produced at the Adelphi Theatre, London, on 10 December 1903 before being transferred to the Lyric Theatre, London, on 12 September 1904.
(photo: unknown, probably Bassano or Ellis & Walery, London, 1904; postcard published by the Rapid Photo Co, London, 1904)

‘My Cosy Corner Girl,’ composed by John W. Bratton, with lyrics by Charles Noel Douglas, was imported from the United States for inclusion in The Earl and the Girl, when it was sung by Henry A. Lytton and Agnes Fraser. They also sang it at the Charles Morton Testimonial Matinee at the Palace Theatre, London, on 8 November 1904.

‘The Earl and the Girl, the most successful of all the musical comedies in which I appeared and the one which gave me my biggest real comedy part, ran for one year at the Adelphi, and then for a further year at the Lyric. When it was withdrawn I secured the permission of the management to use “My Cosy Corner,” the most tuneful of all its musical numbers, as a scena on the music-halls, and with my corps of Cosy Corner Girls it was a decided success.’
(Henry A. Lytton, The Secrets of a Savoyard, London, 1921, p. 86; Lytton’s ‘My Cosy Corner’ scena ran at the Palace Theatre, London, from April to June 1905)

‘My Cosey Corner Girl’ sung by Harry Macdonough, recorded by Edison, USA, 1903, cylinder 8522
(courtesy of Tim Gracyk via YouTube)

Gabrielle Ray’s birthday, 28 April; views on the effects of motoring on kissing

Gabrielle Ray (1883-1973), English musical comedy dancer and actress, who celebrated her birthday on 28 April.
(photo: Bassano, London, circa 1909)

‘THE MOTOR MOUTH.
‘EFFECTS ON KISSING.
‘The medical specialist who recently had the hardihood to assert that motoring would ultimately put an end to kissing, because it made the lips hard, will find few supporters among lady motorists, who are practically unanimous in describing his prophecy as nonsense.
”’King goes by favor,” said one young lady, ”and perhaps it is because no one will kiss him or take him for a motor drive that the poor man is setting up to be an authority on something that we understand better then he does.”
‘From the many inquiries made recently a Daily Mail representative arrived at the conclusion that ladies will not accept as a scientific fact that statements of the medical pessimist.
”’Motoring will go out of fashion before kissing will,” said Miss Marie Studholme. ”The gold wind makes one’s face hard for a little while, but most of the kissable people in the world are now motoring.”
‘Miss Gabrielle Ray thinks the medical specialist is a very funny man; ”but as I don’t go in for kissing,” she said, ”I don’t know much about hard mouths. I have done a lot of motoring, but very little kissing. At the same time, I think it would be a pity to discourage those who like kissing because it seems to please them very much. If I have by accident kissed anyone I have never heard any complaint about my mouths; but there, you see, I put cream on my face when going out in a motor-car, because before I used to do so the wind made my face very dry.”
‘Mlle. Mariette Sully, the charming French actress at Daly’s Theatre [in <HREF=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Merveilleuses>Les Merveilleuses], says it is very wicked of the doctor to talk like that. ”If he had said that motoring sops kissing because the automobile shakes so much,” she could understand him; ”but hard lips, oh, no, not at all.”
‘At the Apollo Theatre Miss Carrie Moore [who is appearing in The Dairymaids] holds the same views. ”Motor drives do not make the lips hard. Of course not. Motoring is lovely, and I am sure it won’t put kissing out of fashion.”
‘At the Gaiety Theatre [where The New Aladdin began its run on 29 September 1906] Miss Kitty Mason suggested that motoring will cause wrinkles round the eyes. ”People screw up their eyes when motoring,” she said, ”and I think that must eventually cause wrinkles.” ”Oh, I hope not,” said the other ladies so loudly that Mr George Edwardes had to call for order to allow the rehearsal to proceed.’
(The Grenfell Record and Lachlan District Advertiser, Grenfell, NSW, Australia, Saturday, 27 October 1906, p. 3c)

Gladys Cooper, photographed in London, about 1908

Gladys Cooper (1888-1971), English actress, at about the time she appeared in Havana, the musical comedy which opened at the Gaiety Theatre, London, on 25 April 1908.
(photo: unknown, but probably Bassano, London, circa 1908)